Obama warning on terrorists getting nuclear weapons

The single biggest threat to US security is the possibility of terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons, President Obama declared on the eve of a global summit in Washington to prevent a nuclear terror attack.

“If there was ever a detonation in New York City, or London, or Johannesburg, the ramifications economically, politically, and from a security perspective would be devastating,” he said as he met President Zuma of South Africa.

Mr Obama will call on the leaders of 47 nations today — the biggest gathering of heads of state by a US leader since the founding of the UN in 1945 — to introduce tougher safeguards to prevent nuclear material ending up in the hands of terrorists. As far back as 1998, Osama bin Laden stated that it was his Islamic duty to acquire and use weapons of mass destruction.